When Jim Underwood of Yorktown, Virginia, started working on the glued-lap York River 12 skiff WE THREE, she had been lying upside down on the ground for several years. Consequently, she had a lot of rot on the top of her transom and stem (see picture at bottom).
Don Don was designed and built by Van Dam Custom Boats, and launched in the summer of 2011. The boat is 28′-7″ long, and 8′ 6″ beam, and speed comes from a 375 h.p. engine. More information from Van Dam Custom Boats, 970 E. Division St., Boyne City, MI 49712. 231-582-2323.
Terry Matthews of Mt. Vernon, WA, built not one but two boats for his granddaughter, Etta Cameron, who was launched herself in April 2010.
Christoph Harlan of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, kept a blog of the six-month construction of his Night Heron kayak kit that he launched in April.
Despite working at times “at a glacial pace” for two years, Stirling Cummings of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, finshed and launched his 18′ Night Heron kayak on a cold windy day in February 2012 on Jordan Lake, near Chapel Hill.
Watch out for Greg Henzel and his two young daughters rowing around in A-K SUNSHINE on Puget Sound near their home in Gig Harbor, Washington.
SUSAN JOY is a Newt design by Warren Jordan of Jordan Wood Boats of South Beach, Oregon. Carl Frey of Stamford, Connecticut, modified the 11'-design from a kayak to a rowboat by installing removable outriggers. The outriggers extend the beam of the boat from 29" to 42".
Randall Kleeman led a class of 12 students at the Anglo-American School of Moscow, Russia, in the construction of PETER THE GREAT, an Iain Oughtred Whilly boat design. The boat carries 80 sq ft of sail and weighs about 140 lbs.
Dean Lohse of Jacksonville, Florida, is a recent graduate from Warren Barker's Fundamentals of Boatbuilding class at the WoodenBoat school.
Paul Newman of Melbourne, Australia, just built a Wood Duck 12 Kayak from a Chesapeake Light Craft kit. He spent about 12 months on the stitch-and-glue plywood construction. The finished 12' boat weighs just 40 lbs. Paul will paddle his Wood Duck on the many waterways of his state of Victoria.